I see that there is a bounty program in the introduced bills LB400 pheasant restoration act. Would like to see it pass but wouldn’t hold my breath.

https://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=50320

It's a good start, but there's things about bounties that deflate their purpose. It brings out shady practices. I've heard of several stories of Nebraskans sending their tails to buddies in SD so they can collect money and split it. Turning in tails collected before bounty dates start. Then what good does it do when individuals in ranching communities collect a bounty when they don't have the habitat or rarely ever see a pheasant.

Look at SD they've had it the past few years and this year the pheasant population is lower than it has been. The problem is much bigger than predators. Farming practices, habitat, and weather.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for keeping predators in check. Just a professional, integrated plan implementation is needed, if their goal truly is to increase pheasant population. One thing I see they do have right, is only allowing the bounty to take place from March 1 - July 1. That's when nesting is taking place until the young are able to be on their own.

Habitat habitat habitat. Paying the farmers kids to catch coon off the silage pile or picking up roadkill is a giant waste of money.

Habitat is always your first step.
all the prey animals somehow survived in North America before Europeans arrived to control the predators, heck they even thrived without any predator control.
Yet to listen to some predators left unchecked will wipe out prey animals.

Denial of reality.

I would like to see buffer zones between fields and more CRP pivot corners. I am convinced pheasants are more susceptible to the chemicals used on crops especially when very young. Look at the profile of crops planted back in the 50s when the pheasant population was highest and you will see a much more diverse profile of crops than today. All that aside I think predator control will benefit those areas with established pheasant populations and $10 a critter will at least pay for some gas.

Google neonicotinoid.
Lots of information about the chemical and bees, but it’s reduced all insect populations tremendously.
What do the poults of ground nesting birds have to have to survive? Insects.
It’s in darn near every corn and soybean plant.
Lots of research going on right now on it’s effects.
It’s been banned in Europe an parts of Canada.